Glossary and Definitions

Provided is a glossary of terms used throughout the play. Think you know some of these terms? Read below for some extra information that may surprise you!

Codfish: A tasty, popular food fish that was often heavily salted to travel in sea with. The quality of food deteriorated on ships as time passed, so codfish could smell and taste rotten after awhile. Used in fish and chips, a popular English snack. Also, “cod” is possibly slang for a sack to cover up a part of a male’s body.

Eaves: The underside of a roof that sticks out over the walls of a building. Origin of the term “eavesdropping”.

Half-Mourning: In 19th-century England, especially among the upper classes, the act of mourning the death of a loved one was surrounded by a complex set of social rules. Women who lost a family member were expected to wear special, all-black mourning clothes for “full mourning,” that lasted about a year and a half. “Second mourning” was the next phase that lasted nine months. Women could begin wearing jewelry and colors of gray and lavender back into her clothing style at “Half-mourning,” which lasted from three to six months.

Kensington Gardens: Once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens is now one of the Royal Parks of London. Popular for sunbathing and picnics, Ken Gardens is known as a peaceful, quiet place for Londoners to relax. In the middle of the park is the Round Pond, where families can operate sailboats among the many birds that call the pond home. Kensington Gardens is where J.M. Barrie met the Llewelyn Davies family in 1897.

King George: Successor to the throne after King Edward VII died in 1910. King George V remained on the throne until his death in 1936 when his first son, Edward VIII, took over the throne for a short period of time until he abdicated his position to marry a woman who was unfavorable to the prime minister and royal custom. The second son, George VI, became king in December of 1936.

Medicine: Children were given medicine, or tonics, every night before bed. The tonics would help children fall asleep, and usually contained narcotics like morphine.

Sunday Hat: A fashionable, decorative hat worn to church on Sundays by ladies. Men often wore top hats for special occasions which may have included attending church.

Peepbo– short for peekaboo or bo peep; a game where one person covers their face or hides, and then takes their hand away or reappears and calls out “Peekaboo!”

Pinafore– a sleeveless apron worn by girls as decoration and worn by women over a top or blouse for protection.

Prams– short for “perambulator,” a carriage for babies not unlike a stroller (see photo).